FIRST INMATE ADMITTED TO DORM 3 SEES LIFE TURN AROUND FOR BETTER

John J. Andrade Wanted To Do Well So Others Could Follow; Now He's A Leader

WAILUKU -- When he had only six months left on his parole term last year,
John J. Andrade could have done the time in jail and been free of further
supervision.

Instead, he decided to participate in a phase of the Maui Drug Court for
nonviolent sentenced offenders, subjecting himself to another 15 months of
meetings, classes, drug testing and scrutiny.

And while at first he didn't plan to finish, Andrade said he soon realized
that he was benefiting from the experience that began with 12 hours of daily
treatment while he was incarcerated in a special dormitory at the Maui
Community Correctional Center.

"It was a commitment. I didn't have anything hanging over my head to keep me
there," Andrade said. "It's the best thing I ever did for myself."

The 45-year-old Makawao resident was among about 20 participants in the Maui
Drug Court's fourth graduation ceremony Oct. 24, becoming the first parole
violator to graduate.

Second Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto noted that Andrade, a painting
foreman, had become the biggest employer of Drug Court participants.

Andrade said helping others who want to stay drug-free is one thing he does
to maintain his sobriety that began Aug. 30, 2001. Before that decisive day,
he had a life of drug use that started with smoking marijuana at age 12.

He was 21 when he started using heroin, the drug he was convicted of
possessing when he was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in 1992.

Andrade spent seven years in prison and two years in a residential
drug-treatment program on Oahu before being paroled. He had been released on
parole for 18 months when he was arrested in July 2001 for violating
requirements of his parole.

Andrade was facing the next six months in prison until his parole expired
when his parole officer asked him if he wanted to participate in a new phase
of the Drug Court for parolees arrested for violations and felons who were
being furloughed.

"I told him OK," Andrade said.

"I had all the wrong reasons for doing it," he said. "My motives were just
to get out of jail a little bit sooner, even though I had six months before
I was through with everything.

"I didn't really want to stay clean and get clean. After I was in there for
a couple of weeks, it did change."

On Sept. 17, 2001, he became the first - and for a while the only - inmate
in Dorm 3, a 24-bed dormitory for males at Maui Community Correctional
Center that was remodeled and designated for only Drug Court participants.

Two case workers from IMPACT-Maui, which provides treatment for the Maui
Drug Court, run a daily 12-hour treatment program of classes, group meetings
and individual counseling sessions in the dormitory.

"It was all about a lot of reading and studying and writing," Andrade said.
"You just get it pounded into you. It's up to you what you do with it."

The program is designed to change the way participants think and, therefore,
behave.

"You learn to interact with people honestly," Andrade said. "It's hard to
tell lies in that small of an area and get away with it."

Inmates in Dorm 3 must also follow rules, including having no contact with
inmates housed in other parts of the prison. As punishment for violating a
rule, an inmate may be told to do one hour of writing on an assigned topic.
Andrade recalled having to write about "Why Is It Important For Me To Follow
Directions" and "Why Do I Love Myself."

As the first to be admitted into Dorm 3, Andrade said he wanted to do well
so others would also have the opportunity. "I knew this could open up a door
for people that are on parole," he said.

After about three months in Dorm 3, Andrade was released from jail to
participate in the regular Drug Court regimen of testing, treatment and
supervision.

A journeyman painter, Andrade began working the day he was released from
prison. For a while, he lived at the Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource
Center. Later, he moved to Makawao, deciding he didn't want to return to
live in Kihei, a place he associates with his former drug use.

"I don't see all the same people. I don't go to all those little trigger
areas," he said.

Instead, he said he has continued what he learned while in Dorm 3, attending
support group meetings, talking to his sponsor and encouraging others trying
to stay drug-free.

"I know how it feels to accomplish something, and it feels really good,"
Andrade said. "It's not that I don't think about using. But when I do, it
comes in and it goes out of my mind real quick.

"My life is too good today."